


And Athaliah did Reign

by Daegaer



Category: Hebrew Bible
Genre: Gen, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2007
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-25
Updated: 2007-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-05 16:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/408673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal</i> (2 Kings 11:1)</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Athaliah did Reign

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lottelita](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Lottelita).



 

 

When the messengers came to Jerusalem, the Great Lady Athaliah was seated in the women's quarters in the palace, holding out a doll to her baby grandson. It took time for the noise to reach her ears, and longer yet before the soft Judean fools thought to tell the mother of the king what all the men in the palace had heard. She gathered up her Israelite maidservants, and sent for the captain of her Israelite guard and walked as fast as a queen might go without running to the hall where her son's throne stood between the cherubim.

All about her, men were yelling in anger and sorrow. It took some moments before her captain's voice could be heard.

"The Lady Athaliah bath Ahab, mother of the king!" he roared, and the hubbub died a little as the crowd drew back.

Athaliah's gaze focused on the travel-weary and wounded men being pulled this way and that by the courtiers. "You!" she said, pointing at one. "Tell me your news."

"Treachery, Lady!" the man said. "Ahaziah the king, and Joram King of Israel, slain in the one day by Joram's captain of the chariots, Jehu ben Nimshi! We have hurried ahead of the body, Lady, to bring word to the palace!"

The room seemed hot and oddly distant to Athaliah, and she felt her maidservants put their hands upon her as if they feared she might fall.

"You fool!" a courtier hissed. "Is this not the mother of the king? Could you not have softened the news?"

"How can this news be softened?" Athaliah said harshly. She took her veil between her hands and ripped it asunder, crying out in anger and loss. Her maids followed suit, their cries piercing the noise the men had started up again. Those nobles of Jerusalem who had not yet torn their garments in mourning hurriedly did so.

Athaliah noted their faces and their names.

* * *

The days of purification had hardly begun when the next blow fell upon Judah. The younger brothers of Ahaziah and the sons of his uncles were captured by the usurper and slaughtered. Athaliah clenched her fists until her nails drew blood from her palms.

"Is it not enough for that traitor to have killed my mother, my brother and my son?" she said. "He has killed all the house and clan of my father, and starts now on the house of my husband?"

Her maids looked away from her face, for there was nothing they could say. Her guards muttered in worry, each to the other, fearing for their own families in Samaria. The nobles of Jerusalem did not send to her, nor did the king's council include her in their deliberations although Ahaziah her son had given her a seat among his advisors.

At last Sephaniah, the recorder of court business came to her.

"Lady," he said, his Jerusalem accent smooth in her ears. "It has been decided that Joash the son of your son must be crowned at once. Let him be brought forth from the women's quarters."

"Joash is one year old," Athaliah said. "Who shall be his regent?"

"The council entire, Lady."

Athaliah considered it, and thought how small her grandson Joash was, how easy it was for babies to die, and how jealous the other wives of Jehoram her husband had been when her son was declared the heir. Were not the daughters of Jehoram by those wives married to the nobles of Jerusalem? Were not those of their sons who still lived men of war, and all raised with the hope of the crown? She smiled upon Sephaniah as if she were the fool the council thought her.

"Forgive an old woman her whims," she said. "Let me keep my grandson as a child this one last night, and tomorrow let him be crowned as king."

Sephaniah smiled, and said smooth words she did not listen to, and bowed, and left. Athaliah stood up from off her chair and called for her captain and the most loyal of her maids.

"If these dogs of Jerusalemites have their will, Joash ben Ahaziah shall not live out the week," she said. "Are they in the pay of the traitor, Jehu ben Nimshi? What is left to him, when the son of my son is dead, but to march upon Jerusalem and reunite the kingdoms under his rule?"

"The Judeans would not countenance it, Lady," her captain said.

"What is left of the seed of Jehoram my husband?" she countered, pleased he did not treat her like a fool, but argued as if she were a man. "Weak men and vain who would not refuse the governorship of the city or the kingdom from that murderer. Those who feel themselves free men rather than slaves would baulk at that, and will think they are the ones to keep Judah free of Israel. Joash is the rightful king but he will be the pawn of the council only until they have decided on someone else. I will not let the house of my son go down to dust! I will not let the house of my father be forgotten! Joash is the heir of Jerusalem and of Samaria - have you forgotten your loyalty to Ahab my father?"

The captain bowed himself down to the floor seven times. When he rose and spoke again his accent seemed cleaner to her, the sounds of the north and her childhood.

"Daughter of Ahab," he said. "What is it you order us to do?"

* * *

The screams from the palace were heard in the streets, and all those possessing the sense the Lord Yahveh gave to men to separate them from the beasts barred their doors and stayed inside. By the time the light of dawn glinted upon the horses and chariots of the sun in the House of the Lord the city was quiet once more, with only muted sobbing coming from some of the great houses.

In the palace the slaves worked in silent terror, mopping the floors clean and drying them as quick as they might. At last the day might begin, and what was left of the council - those whose mourning for their young king had been first and most sincere - crept into the throne room. The throne stood empty but for the cloak of Ahaziah and his diadem arrayed neatly upon the seat. By the side of the throne was a chair on which sat a woman, a baby upon her lap. The councillors looked, one at another, and bowed as the captain of the royal bodyguard stepped forward.

"Hear now the words of the Great Lady Athaliah the daughter of Ahab the king of Israel, the wife of Jehoram the king of Judah, the mother of Ahaziah the king of Judah, the grandmother of Joash the king of Judah!" he cried, his Israelite accent harsh in their ears.

Athaliah stood, her grandson in her arms, and let her veil fall to show her face.

"Ahaziah my son is dead," she said, "And there is unrest in both Israel and Judah. Until my grandson is grown to manhood he has need of a regent, not a council. Am I not the daughter, the wife, the mother and the grandmother of kings? Am I not trained in governance? The Great Lady of Judah has a place in the council of the king, a grandmother may raise her grandson. Now, it is my thought that the first order of business this day must be that we strengthen our borders by positioning our chariots in the northernmost garrisons, lest the usurper ruling in Samaria seek to sent his mighty men against us." She paused, and regarded them unsmilingly. "Unless, my lords," she said, "You feel it is wrong for a woman to speak of such matters?"

The nobles of Jerusalem looked at the Great Lady, the infant king in her arms, and looked also at her soldiers, and bowed themselves to the floor once more.

Athaliah sat on her chair that was not quite a throne and knew they were hers and that their treachery had been stamped out long enough to give her son's son a chance at life. 

 


End file.
